Most islands off the Maine coast commonly include a host of flora and fauna, including some not so pleasant to humans, such as mosquitos, marauding raccoons, and poison ivy. You can forestall the raccoons by keeping all food inside a cooler (very firmly latched) or your tent, and the mosquitos can be repelled with plenty of bug spray. The poison ivy is more of a challenge, and this year the Island Stewards will be testing an organic vinegar spray on Cape Island.

Spraying this highly concentrated solution on young plants had had success on Jewell Island in Casco Bay, so we are hopeful it will keep the poison ivy under control immediately around the campsites. But we will never eradicate it completely, so we recommend you familiarize yourself with what it looks like and avoid it. Should you come in contact with the plant, washing with liberal amounts of soap (dish soap – i.e. detergent is better) and salt water is a good immediate solution.